Hello, Friends. How are you? How was your week? Looking forward to the weekend? I sure am. Guess what’s happening right this minute: Maude Blair is on her way back from Paris! She’s on the plane now, and she’ll arrive this evening. We’re so excited to have her home for a bit before she moves into the dorms in August. On Sunday, we’re going to celebrating her safe return, and her high school graduation, with a little family BBQ.

Something else I’m excited about? There is only one week left in the school year. Yippee! I need to head out to do a little prep for Maude’s return (we want to fill the cupboards with some of her favorite American treats), but before I go, here are a few things I’ve wanted to share:

– I was sickened to learn about an Alt-Right faction of Mormonism that is getting attention. In addition to spewing hate across the internet, they are also specifically targeting women of color within the Mormon church. It’s horrible. Related, I’m wondering how Church members and church leadership will respond. Many church members were very vocal about condemning Kate Kelly, the founder of Ordain Women, and she was eventually excommunicated. Will Church members be as vocal about condemning the Alt-Right hate and the woman who is leading it out?

Oh my. I honestly didn’t even notice. Sorry about that. Heads up readers: about 2 minutes in on the colorizing photos link, someone says “shitload” in an interview clip, and the same person says “fucking up history” at about 5 mins.

Elizabeth Anne Davis

I was thinking the same thing! My son loves photography so he was watching it with me. It might be a good idea to put the disclaimer beside the link in the post, as most people probably won’t read the comments section before clicking the link.

Elizabeth Anne Davis

“Thoughts on the Paris Accord? I’m fascinated by the cities, states and companies who have stepped in. (NYT)”

I think leaving this issue, and most others, to the states and private companies is exactly the way it should work – the less the federal government regulates and leaves to the states, the better. We don’t have to be part of the Paris Accord to work towards its goals.

Katy

Sadly I think this is the direction our “response” to climate change will take in this country but I am optimistic that the benefits of adapting outweigh the obviously enormous downsides. I think private companies will see the financial benefit – adapt or perish! I’m curious – what do you make of the fact that every other country on earth except Syria is party to the agreement (and excepting Nicaragua which wants to be more aggressive?)? That makes me feel like we are on the wrong side of history. I’m having a hard time explaining all this to my kids because they will grow up in a world without so many of the things I love, because of climate change.

To me, even if we set aside the actual agreement, taking such a contrary position to the rest of the world is very poor diplomacy.

The Accord affects the world (the actual Earth, not just the political world), and for us to take a very inward facing “America First” stance is clearly a selfish thing to do. A leader can’t be selfish. We are giving up leadership on this and it seems very wrong.

Since America uses a disproportionate amount of the Earth’s resources and energy, we should be first in line to champion conservation efforts.

Carole Weitner

I think Angela Merkel let the cat out of the bag with her statement about Trump’s withdrawal from the agreement:

> “The Paris deal isn’t just any other deal. It is a key agreement that shapes today’s globalization,” Merkel said, describing discussions with Trump about climate change “very unsatisfying.” “One has to free oneself from the illusion that international climate policy is environmental policy. This has almost nothing to do with the environmental policy anymore, with problems such as deforestation or the ozone hole,” said Edenhofer, who co-chaired the U.N.’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change working group on Mitigation of Climate Change from 2008 to 2015.

So what is the goal of environmental policy?

“We redistribute de facto the world’s wealth by climate policy,” said Edenhofer.

For those who want to believe that maybe Edenhofer just misspoke and doesn’t really mean that, consider that a little more than five years ago he also said that “the next world climate summit in Cancun is actually an economy summit during which the distribution of the world’s resources will be negotiated.” <

My mom used to say, when I tried the “well, everyone else is doing it” mantra, “If everyone else was jumping of a cliff, would you do that too?” It is the poorest of excuses to say that just because every other country is doing something we should be doing it too.

I guess where we differ is that you equate “joining other countries to be good stewards of the Earth’s resources” to “jumping off a cliff out of peer pressure”, and I don’t.

I agree with your mother that we shouldn’t join in on a harmful activity even if everyone is doing it. But what if everyone is writing kind notes to a classmate? Would your mother have told you to join in then? Mine would have.

Elizabeth Anne Davis

To Katy, who asked the question, “…what do you make of the fact that every other country on earth except Syria is party to the agreement?” and to Design Mom, who stated, “…taking such a contrary position to the rest of the world is very poor diplomacy,” I would go back to what I said in my original comment, that our federal government doesn’t have to be involved for the states and private sector to do this work.

My father spent his entire career in the federal government; my husband has spent 20 years of his career in the federal government, and I worked for the federal government long enough to concur with my father and husband that no business run with the amount of waste, corruption and inefficiency of our federal government would ever stay afloat. There’s waste, corruption and inefficiency in state government as well (I worked for a state govt too) but it’s not on the same level, because state officials are more closely associated with and answerable to the taxpayers.

Design Mom, I agree with your comment that the US uses a disproportionate amount of the world’s resources and energy, and we should be first in line to champion conservation efforts, but again, I believe the states and private sector should be leading those efforts.

I think Carole’s main point got lost in the “jumping off a cliff” comment – the Paris Accord is not just about climate change, but also wealth redistribution. If Congress had voted and approved the Paris Accord, as they should have been required to do, I would have been more willing to accept it, as they are answerable to the taxpayers, which is the way our democratic republic is supposed to work. President Obama should not have made the decision to join the Accord unilaterally as he did, especially in his second term when he was answerable to no one.

Rachael

Jenny

I agree that what was reported was sickening, however, the article never cited who the blogger really is. Apparently the blogger is anonymous. I wonder how much of this story is real. Years ago there was an anonymous Mormon blogger (I think her blog was called “Seriously So Blessed” or something like that – I can’t remember) that was very popular. She wrote highly satirical posts making fun of Mormon culture and a lot of people thought it was hilarious (not my cup of tea personally). The real identity of the blogger was never revealed and the site eventually shut down. I guess what I’m say is that in my opinion the article was poorly researched. I think that they could have (and should have) got more facts before writing about the opinions of an unidentified person. All we really know is that an anonymous person expressed very ugly thoughts. Goodness, go to Yahoo news…that’s all you’ll find in the comments section.

Catherine

The Daily Mail isn’t exactly known for its rigorous research standards. However, even if this blogger is a hoax, the comments section reveals enough sympathy with “her” position to be extremely worrisome. There is either more of this sort of sentiment than there was, say, 20 years ago, or it’s stronger by virtue of the fact that they can now connect globally. And that is truly frightening.

And beyond that, when women of color who are Mormon continue to tell us they are being attacked by this Alt-Right White Supremacist Mormon (and they do continue to tell us this), we need to believe them. They are our sisters and we need to support them, not doubt them.

Worst of all, complaints about this woman have been made to Church Leadership and they have chosen to do nothing, while the faction of white supremacists in the Church grows stronger.

I enjoyed reading the article about the work-week. I was curious, Gabrielle, to know how many hours you do “productive” (here I am referring to actual output) work in a week. You have so many balls in the air – a big family, house renovations, Design Mom, Alt Summit, and I’m sure many more – and you appear to be able to do it all with such grace and still have free time left to spend with your family. I do remember you saying that you require quite little sleep, so I guess you have more hours available than someone who requires 8 hours.

How much time do you spend behind e computer writing posts, or on the phone with business contacts, or behind the camera photographing styled shots? And how much time would you say you spend just doing “nothing” (which then often turns into very productive CEO-level strategic thinking)?

I am genuinely interested to hear about this, as a solos-preneur who has recently changed the focus of her business quite drastically (and who has been extremely fortunate to be featured by you…twice!).

Good question on the productive hours. I’m not sure. I’d have to take notes during the day and really track my time to give an accurate answer. But I can say, that having children made me a much more effective at using the time I have available. I’ve learned to pack a ton of work into the hours when the kids are out of the house (or in the baby days, when they were napping).

JananW

That woman spewing hate is disgusting. Everything she’s saying goes against what is taught in the LDS church! Seriously yuck!
WonderWoman, I really really loved it! There was a lot to love about it, however I don’t know that I would characterize her outfit exactly as non-sexist… At least her breasts weren’t hanging out, so it was much more practical that way but still…the outfit was still about being “sexy”. I think in reality she’d be wearing pants, like the men. I know, I know then she wouldn’t look like wonder woman, but still.. I just don’t think the outfit was groundbreaking. I’d like to hear more of your thoughts on it though, DesignMom:)

Really loved the movie. Personally, I think they did a really good job with the Wonder Women uniform, and to me, the goal of the costume didn’t seem to be sexiness at all. In one discussion about the costume I was reading online, a woman linked to this picture of a Greek warrior.

It looks very much like Wonder Woman’s uniform. Definitely the same amount of coverage. And since she’s coming from Greek mythology, her uniform could be considered accurate and appropriate. If we find her warrior uniform too sexy, does that mean we’ve been conditioned to think of women as sex objects first and foremost? Would love your thoughts.

It was especially interesting to me that how she looked or dressed was never mentioned on the island. It was only once people were looking at her through the male gaze that it became an issue.

JananW

Seeing the Greek warrior pic definitely adds more perspective there. Makes her warrior outfit make more sense.
I definitely think our society is preconditioned to look at a woman sexually first. Movies and TV definitely don’t help.
I watch for it in movies where the main actress role will require a jumpsuit or something that would cover her completely, there is always either a scene showing her mostly naked or her jumpsuit only zips up to the bottom of her breasts, while everyone else’s zips to their collarbone. Like they are saying, before you the audience can enjoy this movie you need to think of this woman sexually first. Don’t forget she’s sexy cause she’s about to be fully covered! Arg.
As a mom 3 teenage girls and their younger brother I definitely want my kids to have an…unfettered view of themselves.
To love their body for all it can do, the miracle it is, and to use it to its fullest without worrying about what/how someone else is thinking of them.
I am loving that there are more and more female strong and female driven things popping up. I think we will really have succeeded when there is no commentary about it. It’s just so commonplace that there’s no reason to comment on it!:)

Maryam

It’s really important to call the “Alt Right” by it’s true name, white supremacy. They’ve rebranded for 2017 by declaring themselves the “Alt Right” and come with hipster haircuts, suits etc. but it’s as old as America, white supremacy and until we can recognize and call it what it is, we will not be effectively able to challenge it and get it out of our society and culture.

Tamara Lang

I love the idea of the Minutiae app, but at $14.99 it’s too pricey for me to try out. I’ve really resisted using filters on most of my Instagram photos…I get the appeal of a curated stream, but I tend to enjoy the messy, all over the place ones more myself. None of us are one dimensional, and making our social media accounts appear that way does everyone a disservice.